Kendall's First Year Checkup

Kendall finally had her 1st year checkup (even though she is now over the 13 month mark). We had it scheduled closer to her 1st birthday, but our pediatrician's kid got sick and so we had to reschedule. Stats: Kendall weight is 25 lbs. 11 oz (93%), height is 32 in (97%) and head is 18.5 in (87%). Not a big surprise to anyone…she is a big girl. However, she is very proportional. She is wearing 3T shirts and 2T pants/shorts. The shirts fit her good, but the pants are always too long. Kevin ended up taking her to the appointment, and these type of appointments are never fun. She got 4 shots in her chunky thighs and then had a couple of vials of blood taken. L a lot of tears were shed (some of them might have been Kevin’s). Dr. Tsang said she is right on target for her abilities. Kendall is also a thumb sucker, which I admit is pretty cute! The way she curls her pointer finger around her nose as she sucks her thumb. But Dr. Tsang says we probably need to cut that habit sooner than later or it might be a challenge to ever get the thumb out. So here are the ins and outs of Kendall’s world right now.

SHE LOVES BOOKS! When we are at home in the evenings or on the weekends, she will go get a book out of her room, bring it to Kevin or I, turn around to plop in our lap, stick the thumb in her mouth, and bounce up in down in delight as we start to read her a book. We could read a book to her 50 times and she would NOT get bored. Her favorite books are “Are You My Mother,” “The Tooth Book,” “I Love You, Goodnight,” and “Pet Store.” Sometimes Kevin and I even have to stoop so low as to hide the books because if you aren’t reading to her she gets MAD! A couple of weeks ago, I had conferences which means I don’t have to be in to work until noon on Thursday. I loved my morning because after I was pretty much ready to go, I got to have both Parker and Kendall in my lap and we read books for 45 minutes. I love that they like their books.

Kendall is a talker (she is just trying to keep up with her brother)! She says: mama, dada, ray-ray (Reagan’s nickname), book, Nigh-nigh (blankey) baby, ball, Bo-Bo (cousin), bye-bye, uh-oh, and she has a noise she makes for Parker just not sure how to type it.

Typically week day for Kendall is to wake up around 6:30 as Kevin takes the kiddos to Tammy’s. Sometimes she takes a nap right when we gets there (not quite ready to wake up yet), but most of the time she makes it until after lunch. Either Kevin or I pick up the kids around 4:30. She expects something to drink and a snack right when we walk in the door. We usually eat around 6. After dinner, we might get some play time in before she heads for a bath. After a book or two, she is in bed around 6:45. Most night she talks to herself for a while in her crib (up to 2 hours – never cries). On the weekends, she will sleep as late as 9:00. It is hard to tell sometimes when she gets up because she never cries. She will just sit in her crib and look at books. I honestly don’t remember the last time she cried in her crib – she loves her “alone” time. Even when she sleeps until 9, she will be back in bed right after lunch and sleep for up to 4 hours. 3 hours is very normal.

Kendall is on the go and walks around everywhere. We are still waiting for the time when her arms aren’t up by her head when she walks (like a monkey),  but her balance is really good! She is good at climbing the stairs too. She is still working on going down, but she does a pretty good job. Mom and Dad are just still a little nervous about it. She likes to carry her Nigh-nigh around. She has three blankets she prefers. All three are just regular cotton material, but they are extra large blankets. We have some other blankets that are the same material, but much smaller and they just will not do! It is a good thing she likes three – we get a good rotation going with washing them.

She is more of an indoor kid than Parker was. She does like to be outside, but she still isn’t 100% certain of grass. She prefers to stay on the sidewalks. As far as toys and what she likes to play with…I’m still not sure! She still plays with Parker’s cars (chewing on them and throwing them around) and she has a baby doll that she plays with too. Grandma Chris and Grandpa Tom got her a crib with a high chair and sink attached for her birthday for her baby and she does like to play “mom.” The high chair is a little difficult for her to get her baby in and out of, but DO NOT try to help her. She gets frustrated with doing it herself, but she gets even more mad when you try to help her. Little Miss Independent! She hasn’t shown a lot of interest in TV, but she still loves music. Anything with a good beat and she is bobbing her head up and down.

Kendall makes it known what she wants. She points and does the typical baby grunt until she gets what she wants. Kendall still really likes food and trying new things, but at the same time is getting kinda picky. She used to love chicken nuggets, but lately it is not her thing. She loves the meals that I cook – lasagna, casseroles, spaghetti, etc. But when it comes to lunch – pbj, toast, things like that – she doesn’t want it. Give me the meat! Her favorite food by a landslide is Cheese Puffs. She can’t get enough of those. A close second is green beans. What a weirdo!

Kevin and I both think Kendall is going to be a funny girl. She just has a personality that makes you smile and her face is always so warm. She just always makes me grin. We love her so much and she makes our family complete!

 

 

Pace Race

On Saturday this past weekend, Parker, Maus, and I participated in the Pace Race; a 5K. Parker and I have been running in the evenings and he has enjoyed himself. The farthest we have gone was a little over 2 miles and he ran/walked that in 29 minutes. So I was hoping that we could get the 5K (3.8 miles) done in under an hour. He surprised me and we accomplished it in 45.05 minutes. The first mile, he did so good and was keeping up with most of the adults. I reminded him that we can walk and he agreed it was time to walk. He brought along his MP3 player and sang along to some of the songs while he was running. We got some giggles from people as we passed them. He yelled out “sexy and I know it” when it came to that song – lots of giggles on that one. As we passed the golf course, some of the men playing golf were laughing and said that I had my body guard along. Most of the adults pulled away from us pretty quickly, but we kept some people in our sights the whole time. Parker is Mr. Competitive and of course wanted to “win.” Good thing he couldn’t see everyone else, but the people we could see, he would run to catch up with them, walk for a bit, then run and catch them again. He did SO good and never complained the whole time. Maus stayed with us pretty much the whole time as well. I really enjoyed spending the time with Parker and watching his competitive spirit. We crossed the finish line and lots of people were cheering him on. They were impressed to see such a young person running. After the race, they served us pancakes and Parker definitely needed some food. He was TIRED! When he was too tired to even finish his pancakes, we decided to go ahead a head home. As we were walking out they were just starting the awards ceremony. We decided to stay for just a bit. The first award they gave was to boys 13 and under and PARKER GOT 3^RD PLACE! I am so proud of him! He got a medal and got to stand on the medal stand. Even the announcer made a big deal about his age. Then as we stayed a bit longer, Maus ended up getting a medal as well! 2^nd PLACE! Parker was a little jealous that Maus’s medal was on a red ribbon while Parker’s 3^rd place medal was on a white ribbon. But Maus was so nice to trade him. He is/was so proud of himself and called all his grandparents to let them know his accomplishment. I hope this is a regular thing that Parker and I can do together. Again, SO PROUD OF HIM!

Parker stretching it out.

 

 

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The other kids were so much older/bigger! They were 10 and 13 years old.

 

 

My medalists!

Kendall and Parker LOVE this song. And Kendall loves to rock out!

Kendall also loves to blow bubbles in the water. Whether it be in the bath tub or at the pool. She is NOT afraid of the water.

 

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Parker's First Day of Preschool (Year 2)

Parker has started another year of school! He was a little nervous going into this year and not exactly sure why. Maybe it is because he realized about a week ago that Mrs. Hall and Ms. Wilbur were not going to be his teacher this year. He said he was excited to see them again, and I said they weren't gonig to be his teachers this year. "WHAT?!?" Oh yea...I guess he wouldn't know that he gets a new teacher every year. But his new teacher's Mrs. Webb (below) and Mrs. McCalla (didn't get a picture of her darn it!) seem super nice. He got to meet them last week at Meet Your Teacher. Another reason he might be anticipating this year more than last is because his buddy Caden is not in his class this year. But we did find out his friend Javien from last year is in his class. Also a girl named Lily that also is in Parker's Sunday School class is in there too. So he has a couple of buddies in there. At the end of his first day of school, he also mentioned a "boy in a red shirt" that was nice. Sounds like he is making new friends!

Caden isn't in Parker's class, but he still stopped by on Meet Your Teacher night, so I had to grab a picture or two!

 

For Parker's first day, I took the morning off to take him to school. I also told him I would take him out for breakfast. The morning was a little hectic - again, Parker wasn't the most excited to go and then traffic was terrible (and I almost forgot the most important part - his backpack. Duh MOM!). So as I'm heading up Kellogg moving the speed of a snail and wondering how I'm going to get breakfast and get Parker to school on time. I ask Parker where he wants to go for breakfast - IHop, Village Inn, Jimmy's Egg...and Parker says "does Donalds have breakfast?" AWESOME! So much faster than the other places! Maybe he could tell I was stressed LOL! So we went there and he LOVED it! We even got to school early and I snapped some pictures before it got crowded. And when it was time to say goodbye - NO PROBLEM! He gave me a high five and he was gone. Such a big boy!

And yes...Parker has a black eye. He got it last week at Tammy's house. He walked in front of a kid swinging. Hopefully he learned his lesson there - OUCH!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend. I admit, I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the weekend because we had planned on going to Table Rock Lake but Hurrican Issac messed up those plans. It rained all weekend there so we just stayed home. And it turned out to be a great 3 days at home! Kevin made a new "sprinkler" for the kids and they had a so much fun playing in it!

 

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Maus came over and hung out on Saturday. Parker was dancing and doing some booty shaking!

 

And we had a frozen tshirt contest. Parker beat Maus and Daddy beat me. Thank goodness the sprinklers were on...those shirts were literally frozen stiff!

And Kendall finally has enough hair on top to get a sprout going! Her hair is SO thick in the back, but the top is very thin!

We also hit up the YMCA pool with the Smiths. It was a lot of fun!

Awesome weekend! Reagan (Ray-Ray) was exhausted haha!

She Walks!

At twelve and a half months old, Kendall is walking! She loves to tackle her brother!

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Crazy Baby!